This request is part of a long line of legal challenges to the Arizona law. Earlier this month, advocacy groups filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Arizona asking a federal judge to block enforcement [JURIST report] of the portion of the state's controversial immigration law that bans blocking traffic to acquire or offer day labor services. Last month, a federal judge dismissed a counterclaim [JURIST report] filed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer [official website] and state Attorney General Tom Horne [official profile] against the US government in the lawsuit challenging the controversial Arizona immigration law. In a preview of how it might rule should it decide to hear the case, the Supreme Court in May ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting [Cornell LII backgrounder] that Arizona's controversial employment related immigration law [materials] is not preempted by the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) [text]. Last year, the Department of Justice sued [JURIST report] the state of Arizona and Governor Brewer over SB 1070, arguing that both the Constitution and federal law "do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country."

The European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) [official website] has been investigating war crimes [JURIST report] since December 2008. An influential figure in the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) [official website, in Albanian], Limaj was excluded from a cabinet position following international pressure not to include corrupt officials, but was elected into the Kosovo parliament. Limaj is an ex-member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and is viewed as a liberator by many ethnic Albanians. In 2005, Limaj was acquitted of similar charges by a war crimes tribunal in The Hague because of insufficient evidence. An EU judge in September placed Limaj under house arrest [JURIST report] while awaiting trial. In September, EULEX charged 10 former members of the KLA [JURIST report], including Fatmir Limaj, with war crimes for their actions during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.

the Syrian government immediately to halt the use of excessive and lethal force by security forces against unarmed demonstrators and activists ... and to provide immediate and unhindered access to human rights groups and journalists to the governorate of Homs, including hospitals, places of detention, and prisons [and that] the United Nations Security Council to take action, separately and jointly, to protect civilians by pushing for international civilian observers to deploy inside Syria, including in Homs Governorate in order to monitor human rights violations.

Earlier this week, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] announced that the death toll of Syrian protesters has exceeded 3,500 [JURIST report]. Last week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad offered amnesty [JURIST report] to any protester who surrendered themselves. In October, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] urged [statement] the international community to take steps to protect civilian lives in Syria [JURIST report]. The violence has been condemned [JURIST report] by both the UN and the Arab League. Fighting is not limited to the Homs region—HRW released a report [HRW report] in June of this year detailing rights abuses in the Daraa Governorate. There has been a major struggle to put an end to Syrian violence since the protests began earlier this year. In April, Assad ended [JURIST report] the country's 48-year-old state of emergency, but protests have continued.

We are keeping watch to ensure that the process does not lead to acts of violence or attacks against the civilian population. We are paying particular attention to reports of inciting hatred, exclusion and physical violence by various political figures in Kinshasa and across the entire country. Electoral violence can result in the commission of crimes falling within our jurisdiction. No one should doubt our resolve to prevent crimes or, if need be, prosecute individuals, as we are doing in Kenya and Cote Ivoire.

The DRC has faced numerous accusations of human rights violations in the past. In June, four policemen were sentenced [JURIST report] to death for killing a prominent human rights activist. In February, a military official and his subordinates were sentenced for mass rape [JURIST report] that occurred on New Year's Eve. In addition to human rights violations, the DRC faced some minor issues such as arresting [JURIST report] six election officials for ballot fraud but there has been no violence related to election reported.

In October, a judge for the STL asked [JURIST report] that the Trial Chamber initiate proceedings in absentia. Pre-trial Judge Daniel Fransen [official profile], in accordance with STL rules, waited 30 calendar days after public announcement of the indictment before making the formal request, the prescribed next step in the process. The indictment was unsealed in August, and the STL president has made a public plea for the four men to turn themselves in [JURIST reports]. In 2007, the UN Security Council approved a resolution to establish an ad hoc international tribunal to investigate and try suspects in the assassination of Hariri.

Although the "kill team" incident has been considered one of the worst examples of American war crimes since the start of the Afghanistan campaign, other crimes have been alleged. In September 2010, former UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston [JURIST news archive] called for an investigation [JURIST report] into the conduct by both Taliban and US and British military forces, and expressed particular concern over the number of civilian deaths during the war in Afghanistan. At the time, Alston made specific reference to the alleged killings revealed [JURIST report] in secret military files published by WikiLeaks [website]. The latter has been described as the largest unauthorized release of classified documents in US military history allegedly littered with US war crime evidence.

In January, the Ugandan High Court issued a permanent injunction [JURIST report] and awarded damages to plaintiffs who were alleged to be homosexuals by the Ugandan tabloid newspaper, The Rolling Stone. The complaint was filed by Uganda's Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law [advocacy website] on behalf of three members who, along with 97 other individuals, were alleged to be homosexuals in an article published by the tabloid under the headline "Hang Them" in October 2010. In January 2010, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was discriminatory [JURIST report] and could harm Uganda's reputation internationally. Additionally, in February, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the proposed legislation [JURIST report], which would implement harsh punishments for homosexual behavior, including the death penalty in some circumstances.

Al-Mahmoudi's extradition is the latest legal episode in an ongoing effort by Libyan and international courts to investigate officials in Gaddafi's government [JURIST report]. In June, the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] issued arrest warrants [decision, PDF; JURIST report] for Gaddafi, as well as two high-ranking officials in his regime, for crimes against humanity. ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official website] declared before the Pre-Trial Chamber that his office had obtained direct evidence [JURIST report] that shows Gaddafi personally ordered attacks on civilian protesters and that his army used live ammunition on crowds, fired at people in funeral processions, and placed snipers to shoot people leaving mosques after prayer services. Earlier in June, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] decided to extend its investigation [JURIST report] of human rights abuses in Libya. In a 92-page report [text, PDF], the UNHRC declared that Gaddafi's regime committed murder, rape, torture, and forced disappearance "as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack."

the fact that intelligence reports involve two distinct actors—the non-government source and the government official who summarizes (or transcribes) the source's statement. The presumption of regularity pertains only to the second: it presumes the government official accurately identified the source and accurately summarized his statement, but it implies nothing about the truth of the underlying non-government source's statement. ... The presumption of regularity—to the extent it is not rebutted—requires a court to treat the Government's record as accurate; it does not compel a determination that the record establishes what it is offered to prove.

Federal courts have struggled with habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees. In May, the DC Circuit affirmed [JURIST report] a lower court's decision that Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Musa'ab Omar al-Madhwani is lawfully detained for being part of al Qaeda. In March, the DC Circuit overturned [JURIST report] a lower court's decision granting release to Yemeni Guantanamo detainee Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman. In September 2010, Kuwaiti Guantanamo detainee Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad al Odah petitioned [JURIST report] the US Supreme Court [official website] to reverse a federal appeals court decision that denied him habeas corpus relief, but the Supreme Court turned down his appeal in April.